Broken Bayou

When her two great aunts died, Dr. Willa Watters, a renowned children's psychologist with a popular podcast, traveled from Fort Worth, Texas, to Broken Bayou, Louisiana to retrieve personal belongings left behind for years in the aunts' attic. Author Jennifer Moorhead dropped hints that Willa was desperate to find articles that would bring shame and possible criminal charges to Willa and her mother.

It was because of her own dysfunctional upbringing that Willa became a child psychologist. As the older of two girls, Willa was protective of her younger sister, who suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Being raised by an alcoholic with mental health problems subjected both girls to very unstable and unpredictable lives, marked by a series of sudden changes based on their mother's chaotic choices. In the current action, Willa's mother was living in a nursing home, suffering from COPD and was still not taking her meds to control her moods. She pleaded with Willa to get the abandoned boxes at any cost.

Willa's hope for a quick, incognito trip was not to be. Immediately before her return to the Bayou (where she spent happy childhood summers with her aunts) Willa had an inexplicably disturbing flashback triggered by a caller to a radio talk show. A video clip of her subsequent meltdown went viral, threatening her career. The publicity also guaranteed she would have no anonymity when arriving in the aunts' hometown, despite the passage of years.

Two mysteries dominated the novel. The first was the nature of the items that Willa was so anxious to reclaim and what terrible secrets they held. The second mystery developed when a severe drought lowered the water level in the Bayou, revealing sunken barrels and cars containing human remains. I guessed wrong regarding both mysteries. Willa got closure from an examination of the items that she and her mother left behind, but not without heartache. I was truly stunned by the identity of the serial killer. Moorhead skillfully led me astray by sprinkling the very short, but final memories of the murder victims throughout the book. I couldn't pick out the guilty party among the citizens of Broken Bayou, but that is what makes reading a mystery fun.

This is a terrific debut! I enjoyed Broken Bayou a lot. Willa was a great main character. She was strong and smart, but also flawed and damaged. It was nice to see her actually go to the police and tell them the truth rather than lie like you see in so many other books. I loved that it was under 300 pages, which allowed for a nice quick pace with lots of action. There are multiple twists and turns, and I didn't see any of them coming. Some scenes near the end had my heart racing! I highly recommend this book and I'm looking forward to seeing what Jennifer Moorhead comes up with next!

I don’t want to risk spoiling anything, so I’m not going to say anything other than . . . KEEP READING. The book moves along quickly, and just when you think it’s going in one direction, it takes off in another. It was refreshing to read a thriller where the narrator is reliable. She’s also flawed and working through a lot of trauma of her own. The book’s pacing is on point, conversations and behavior ring true, and the twists and turns kept me guessing. 5 stars.

Broken Bayou is set in Louisiana where the heroine, Dr. Willa Watters, once spent her childhood summers at the home of her maiden aunts, Pearl & Petunia. Willa is now a child psychologist who specializes in autism because her sister, Maybry was autistic. One day, after a disastrous live TV interview, Willa receives a call from The Historical Society of Louisiana informing her that the twins died earlier this year and left their antique home to the Society but with instructions to let Willa have anything she wanted from the home's attic.

Willa, in a state of near panic, races to Louisiana because the attic not only holds treasures from her childhood, it holds a secret, one that could destroy her family. Distracted by her worries Willa doesn't realize there's a bigger story playing out in Broken Bayou than her humiliation on TV. There's a serious drought happening in the South and the town hasn't seen any rain in months. The drought has caused the water in the bayou to evaporate and what it reveals is much worse than anyone could have imagined.

Five metal barrels with human remains have shown in the ever-shrinking water along with the car her bipolar mom was driving that last summer they ever spent here. Is this why her mom never brought them back? Is this part of whatever is on that VHS tape Willa stole that night?

Willa finally watches that security tape, the one she'd taken the night her mom and Mabry returned to the aunt's house. Her mom with bruises on her face, and Mabry only muttering their agreed-upon safeword. What she sees on the tape leaves her shaken but determined to figure out the answers to the mysteries behind who's killed the women in the barrels, the only person she trusts is her childhood sweetheart, Travis, now a cop with the local police department. She races an ambitious newswoman for the answers and every day brings them both closer to the truth, the truth, and danger.

This mystery had my fingers on high-speed flipping through the pages! My Kindle app should have been sending out smoke tendrils, I swear. 😁 The mystery isn't only about the gruesome murders in Broken Bayou's river, but the secrets that toxic families keep. The kind of families in which both she and Travis grew up. Broken Bayou explores how abuse can affect children, even those in the same family, differently from one child to the next.

The pace in BB is quick, but it doesn't leave you with too pat of an end, which I appreciated. With some novels of this length, you might get an author who'll rush the end but not here. It goes to show how much talent this writer has, IMO, as she wraps up one twist after another, and manages to keep me riveted to the pages. So, Jennifer, you're getting not only 5 well-deserved stars but an A++, too!

I love this book! I will put this into my summer rotation to read annually!

First, the imagery of the humid dog days in the south is spot on. The reader can feel the thick and stifling Louisiana air. I love the setting. I love the feelings it conjures up of running wild during the summer in your childhood.

Second, the main character Willa has depth and is relatable. I cannot get hooked on a book if I don’t like the main character. She is human and makes mistakes like we all do, and she tries to right any wrongs - past and present.

Third, I thoroughly enjoyed the psychological aspects of the characters and how some characters react/handle others’ psychosis. The descriptions, examples, and lives of each character that were affected by a psychosis or mental incompetency were very accurate. To read the shifts in personality with bipolarity, depression, sociopathy, this is so clearly written and illustrated with accuracy.

I am so glad I picked this up. This is such an awesome read that draws in the reader, keeps a fast pace, and gets the heart racing. 10/10

"Broken Bayou" by Jennifer Moorhead is a thrilling ride from start to finish, perfect for those looking to get lost in a book during a rainy weekend. The novel is set in a hauntingly atmospheric Louisiana bayou, where every twist in the story adds a new layer of suspense and mystery. Moorhead's ability to evoke a sense of place is remarkable, with vivid descriptions that make you feel the humidity, and smell the musky scent of the bayou. The setting itself becomes a character in the story, adding to the novel's eerie and discomforting feel.

Moorhead's characters are another highlight of the novel. The protagonist is well-developed, with a complex backstory and motivation that makes her feel real and relatable. Her journey back to the murky waters of the bayou mirrors her internal struggles, creating a gripping and immersive reading experience. The relationships between the protagonist and other characters are also well crafted, adding depth to the narrative and making the ultimate stakes feel even higher.

If you're looking for a book that will keep you up all night, listening for creaking floorboards and wondering what lies around the next corner, "Broken Bayou" is the perfect choice.

I typically read books very quickly, but I kept having to come back to this one, as it just wasn't engaging me. Way too much time given to small details and too little forward movement to the story. As others have noted, at about the halfway point, there was a shift. The action, the pace, the deepening mystery seemed to intensify and reel you in. There was though, quite an overabundance of diagnoses for a fairly small group of characters. MC seemed to me to be both caring doctor, yet with self-centered and self-important tendencies, so was a little hard to empathize with at times. Overall however, the writing style and setting were excellent, the ending brought about a surprising twist, and I was engrossed and invested in this story by the second half of it. A very solid 4-star.

The writing is immersive, and paints a good picture of the characters, which are developed well. The only reason it didn't get five stars are there are some loose ends and questions that didn't get answered for me. SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Doyle had been in trouble before, and one instance had been impersonating an officer. I wanted to know more about that, as it was an obvious tactic to put Doyle at the top of the suspect list for the reader. Some things didn't make sense, like why had her clothes been changed after she was kidnapped? It never went into depth about things that seemed important but turned out not to be.

Overall it was a great read that I found hard to put down. I love the writing style and the twists of two mysteries in one!

Overall: it was a bit slow to get started, but then it draws you in. It has twists and turns. If you've read as many "psychological thrillers" as I have, you'll see most of the turns coming, but that's ok for the ost aprt. The author does a great job of creating an atmosphere of small southern towns. I liked the mix of characters and their development.

There were some pages that I skimmed over because there was too much description. The antagonist is woefully predictable; it's the favorite antagonist of many a female-driven psychological thriller. The climax was pretty disturbing and very well written so I skimmed over it, but that's not the author's fault. I didn't like the way the relationship with the main character's mother resolved.....just....a little too enabling, but maybe I'm projecting my own issues.

All in all, worth the read and I'd read the next one by this author.